Hogwarts Expresso
by Moony Lover
Summary: What if the Hogwarts Train never arrived to it's destiny? Now Sirius is having nightmares and a little girl is the cause of it...Marauder's Era! RR!
1. Sightings

**Author: **Moony Lover

**Summary:** What if the Hogwarts Train had never arrived to it's destiny?

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, never will be. I only own the characters you don't recognize in the story.

**CHAPTER 1**

"_Mummy, I'm gonna miss you…"_

"_I'm gonna miss you too, darling, but we'll see each other really soon, you don't have to worry about that…"_

"_I know, but still…"_

"_Still, you are going to have an amazing time at Hogwarts. It's your first year, remember?"_

_The red headed witch looked at her 11 year old daughter directly in her shinny silver eyes. The little girl just smiled proudly at her mother's mention of Hogwart's first year. She had been waiting for this day for so long, and now that she was living it, she only wished time could go slower for her to be with her mother for more time. _

"_ONE MINUTE TO GO!" _

_The loud voice came from inside the last carriage of the train. A huge man was ringing a bell while shouting that the kids should board the train. _

_After looking at the man sadly, the little girl turned her head once more to her mother with teary eyes. "I'm going to miss you, mummy"_

"_I'm going to miss you too, Alana," she said giving the toddler a warm embrace. "But don't forget, we'll see each other real soon. Ok?"_

"_ALL ABOARD!"_

_The little girl gave her mother a desperate look. "Mummy, I don't want to go…"_

"_You have to, sweetie. Don't worry, ok? Mummy will write you"_

"_But…"_

"_You have to go, darling" And with that she grabbed her daughter's hand and took her running to the last carriage of the train where kids of the same age were supposed to be. Some of them were crying, some laughing, some green and some really shocked just to say anything. "Mummy, no!" But Alana couldn't do anything to help her mother from getting her into the train and then walk away some steps. Alana tried to jump but she couldn't: the door got suddenly closed with an abrupt noise. She ran to the last wagon and opened a window to call for her mother. The old witch ran and gave her hand through the window's train. "Everything's going to be ok, sweety"she smiled and then the train started to speed. "Have fun!" Alana let go her mother's hand and runned to get something from her bag. "I love you," the mother said and then the train went so fast that was quickly out of her view._

_Inside the train Alana had grabbed a parchment and a pen and had written something on it. When she got up happily to show it to her mother she realized that the train station was already long gone._

_Alana sat defeated in her sit and grabbed the parchment. Putting her head on her hands she cried silent and alone. _

_It was sunset when Alana woke up from her long nap. A little boy was shaking her. "Hi, wake up!"_

_Alana sat straight in her sit and rubbed her eyes with her tiny hands. She then looked around and realized that she and the boy were the only ones in the compartment._

"_It's already sunset, you know?" the little boy told her. She looked at him funnily and then mumbled a very sleepy 'no'_

"_Well, we'll be arriving at school in two or three hours more… at 9 o'clock sharp"_

"_And what time is it?"_

"_6:30 and 15 seconds..16..17..18.."_

"_Thank you" Alana said quickly. She hadn't asked for the exact hour. Opening her eyes a little more she took a look to the little boy who was now distracted eating some Berttie Botts Every Flavour Bean. He had blue eyes and really blond hair. He had a big nose, but it looked good on him. Alana thought he was kind of handsome. Very prince-like. He seemed to radiate some kind of aurora_

_A sudden growl from her stomach made her realize she was, indeed, very, very hungry. The little boy realized this and grinned. "Do you want a Bean?"_

"_Yes, thank you" and she grabbed 3 or 4 flavours while she looked for her bag. When she found it she grabbed a little purse where she kept her money. "Where can I buy some food?"_

_But the boy shook his head. "I'm afraid that the trolley lady is already gone. But I can give you some of the food I bought, do you want it?"_

"_Yes, please"_

_He smiled and walked away, he came five minutes later carrying his bag. He took some of the chocolate frogs and other things he had bought and hadn't eaten and gave them to Alana. She smiled gratefully and grabbed the food. _

"_What's your name?"_

"_Brandon. Yours?"_

"_Alana"_

"_Where are you from, Alana?"_

"_Ireland. What about you?"_

"_Wales"_

_They were both silent for some seconds, as Alana ate and Brandon looked around searching for something to say._

"_Do you have brothers or sisters?"_

_Alana shook her head. "No, I'm the only one. You?"_

"_I have a sister" he said. " She's already in Hogwarts… in her seventh year. She's a head girl"_

"_Wow…" Alana thought for some seconds for something to say. She didn't want Brandon to think she's really stupid. "I just hope I do good in this year…I don't want to be the last one"_

"_You won't" the kid said. "You come from a muggle family?"_

_She shook her head. "No. You?"_

"_No" he said. "What house do you think you'll be in?"_

"_Hufflepuff or Gryffindor" she smiled. "My mother was been in Gryffindor, and my father in Hufflepuf.. so, I hope I'll be in one of those. What about you?"_

"_Gryffindor… in both sides of my family" he seamed proud. "I guess I'll be in Gryffindor as well"_

"_I'm sure you will" _

_Alana tried to sound polite._

_They kept on talking like that for half an hour, when, all of the sudden, they felt like their carriage started shaking. They both looked at each other scared. Just when Alana was about to say anything the shaking stopped. Sighing relieved she looked out the window. The next thing she saw made her freeze for a moment._

_When she looked out the window she could feel that the carriage was starting to shake again, this time more abruptly. With teary eyes she tried to look outside to see what was happening. All of the sudden she saw a train next to them, really similar to the Hogwarts Express… wait, it was the Hogwarts Express but… no, it couldn't be right! The last two carriages were broken and destroyed, upside down. Kids from all ages were crying and trembling as the adults surrounded them and grabbed what it seamed to be the body of a sleeping child… the clothes… the hair, she recognized him immediately. It was Brandon! Looking around she realized that the rest of the train was fine, but only the carriages with the first years were travelling were destroyed, the iron was burnt, and there were still some little flames on them. There were small bodies around the floor, people crying at the feet of the lifeless bodies, screaming and even some of them collapsing or gasping for breath._

_And then, she saw it, a man, gently pulling a little girl's body out of the rubble. She had curly brown-reddish hair, not really long… and even though the clothes were totally torn off and stained with blood she recognized them immediately… They were hers!_

_And then, she saw her mother, next to her other self's body, crying. _

_And that's when she realized: she had died._

_A sudden crush made the train bump off the rails, making those Alana's last few moments alive._

"It's exciting right? Our sixth year in Hogwarts!"

"You seam really happy comparing to the pre-Hogwarts depression you had last week when I called you, Padfoot" Remus Lupin told his friend who was sitting in front of him, eating chocolate frogs and drinking pumpkin juice. His whole seat was covered with packets of food and sweets they had bought not long ago  
Sirius grinned, and tying his hair back he said, "Well, my dear Moony, I have come to a conclusion"

Another boy next to then suddenly started coughing but it was no normal cough, more as if he were trying to hide laughter. His glasses almost fell off as he kept his useless attempts to hide his laughter. He couldn't suppress it much longer, so he decided it was better laugh freely, easier too. The other boy, Sirius, gave him an interrogative look, while Remus and Peter laughed along with his friend.

"I suppose you find something funny, my dear Prongs, so if you are such a darling and tell me…"

"Well, Sirius…" James coughed some more, rubbed the tears out of his eyes, and then looked at the person in front of him. "I suppose you haven't heard your sentence?"

"I did, actually. So if you are so kind and tell me…" Sirius was being unusually polite. He didn't really like acting like that, it was really out of character, but every time his intelligence was put on doubt he felt the need to adopt this polite, and in other words not-arrogant, personality.

"_Well, my dear Moony, I have come to a conclusion" _James imitated his friend's voice, making Sirius give him a deathly look.

"There's a problem with that, I presume?" the teenage asked, in a very posh-polite-way.

"C'mon Sirius!" James laughed. "When was the last time you actually came to a conclusion? You don't act with conclusions!"

Sirius decided that polite time was over. "What are you talking about, James?" but he too was laughing.

"What do you think we are going to do this year?" Another boy asked, he had brown short hair, a long tiny nose and his eyes looked like they were always wet.

"I don't know" Sirius shrugged. "I just hope we get, at least, as much as detentions as last year"

"You know, for your life's goal, it is not so productive"

"Shut it, Potter, you are just jealous"

"Yeah, right!"

Sirius laughed and looked out of the window. Nothing out of ordinary, the sun was already going down, making the sky be in wonderful violet-orange tones. It was starting to be a little cooler, the landscape was the same.. the same old trees like every other year, the same old grass. Sirius sighed looking out of the window. _I guess some things never change…_

With a blink of the eye, Sirius realized that all of the landscape had suddenly changed. The same trees were there, the same flowers and grass… but there was something more.

He came closer to the window, to try to distinguish what that huge thing was…it was huge thing made of iron. The colours… the numbers, it all looked so familiar! And then it hit him. How had he been so stupid he hadn't realized before? It was the Hogwarts Express he was seeing! But how? He was on it, how was it able that he saw the same train he was travelling in now?

But it didn't look like the Hogwarts Express _at all. _The last two wagons were upside down, as if they had crushed, broke or something. There were tons of people running around, most of them crying and some of them lying on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. Medi Wizards and Aurors were taking out little bodies of kids from the last wagons of the train. None of them moved. Not a single one.

The last body they took out was the body of a little girl, she had curly brown-reddish hair, a pink dress with pink shoes and white gloves. Or at least they had been white, for now they were all covered with blood, like her clothes, her hair… everything. It looked like she had been a pretty girl. And when they put her body down in the floor an older woman ran, crying, to it. She bent over and grabbed the little girl's dead body. A man was behind her, his head looking down, not able to see the picture in front of him. The mother started rocking the little girl, making the little girl's head fall to the side… one of her eyes was open.

And it was looking directly at him.

Sirius screamed and got back from his position fast , falling in the floor. His friends looked at him strangely while he tried to calm himself down still looking out of the window. The whole dramatic scene had gone.

"Sirius? Are you ok?" It was Remus. His blue eyes preoccupied with his best friend's state. He bent over to Sirius, just like James, and tried to see if his friend needed help. Peter stayed in his place, looking frightened at the boy in the floor.

"What happened, Sirius?" James asked as he and Remus helped Sirius to stand up. He turned his head to the window, to see what was happening, why was Sirius looking at it scared. He saw nothing, just the ordinary landscape.

"Are you ok, Padfoot?"

Sirius sat straight in his sit and touched his forehead. It was all sweaty. He nodded fast and nervously.

"What happened?"

"N-Nothing, n-nothing at all"

That night Sirius couldn't even stick one eye together. What was that thing he had seen back in the Hogwarts Express? Who was the little girl? She had died, that's for sure. But he still got the creeps every-time he remembered her, and how her face fell to her side with an eye open. It had been so… surreal. He was totally used to see strange things, and even more with ghosts and those kinds of things but this was totally different… dead people were involved. And the Hogwarts Express.

Sighing, Sirius got up from his bed and went to the window. He put his face in his hands and glared at the floor for some minutes, thinking over and over of the scene he had seen today. The Hogwarts Express… kids dead… how could it have been possible? The Hogwarts Express is one of the safest ways to travel around the magical world and still…

He slowly raised his head up to see the Dark Forest. Everything was so quiet… and even so there were so many different creatures there that it was unbelievable. Having deep thoughts of the Forest, Sirius turned around and went to his bed. Once lying peacefully in it, he turned around to face the window, ready to fall into a deep slumber…

"ARRGH!" Jumping up, Sirius screamed loudly.

The lights of the room flicked on and his friends yanked opened the curtains to see what was happening.

"Padfoot? Are you ok?"

"Sirius? What's happening!"

Sirius couldn't answer, he was breathing deeply, his forehead sweating… and even more, he couldn't take the view off of the window.

James got up and walked to the window to check if there was anything unusual and then walked to his bed. "There's nothing Sirius, go back to sleep''

Sirius said nothing; he was still too shocked. When he had turned around in his bed he had seen the face of the little girl once again. But this time her face was covered in blood, just like her hair, but both of her eyes were opened, crying and looking straight into Sirius's eyes. And she was moaning, '_Listen to me, please…'_


	2. Class of 1933

**Author: **Moony Lover

**Summary:** What if the Hogwarts Train had never arrived to it's destiny?

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, never will be. I only own the characters you don't recognize in the story.

**Author's Notes:** English is not my first language… I hope you understand that I may make some mistakes which my computer does not recognize as such… be nice to me! Lol.

**CHAPTER 2**

"What the hell happened to you last night, Sirius?"

Sirius looked at his friend concerned. He could see Remus was truly worried. But he couldn't think of a way for Remus to help him.

What was this all about? First in the Hogwarts Express and now in their room? Who was this little girl? What did she want? Why was he supposed to help her? There were so many questions in his head that he couldn't think of anything else. He had been distant and distracted the whole day, constantly looking out of the window as if expecting for the little girl to come and talk with him.

She was dead, that's for sure. But it was strange for ghosts to haunt you like that. Ghosts only stayed in the Wizarding World if they were unhappy, like Nearly-Headless-Nick…although he had once told him that he had been entirely happy in his life, it was his death that made him so unhappy. But what about this little girl?

Even if he remembered her it was such a creepy thought that…Sirius shuddered every time he remembered her. The first time she had only eye open and had been looking _directly at him. _This wasn't like the other times, when he used to joke around so that all of the girls looked at him. No. This was different. The little girl was looking at his face.. his hair, his everything. What did she want? Why had she visited him twice in a day? He shuddered to think of her reasons.

"Sirius?"

Sirius looked back at his friends. This time it was James who had called him.

"What has happened to you last night?"

"I… an owl appeared in the window, all of the sudden… I don't know why… it just scared the hell of me''

Neither James nor Remus seemed to believe his story.

The next week Sirius found himself still thinking of the little girl and the things he had seen in the Hogwarts Express. Why was he so worried? Perhaps it had all been a dream… a nightmare, a horrible and creepy nightmare. He had only seen her twice, in the same day. That couldn't mean anything, could it?

Unfortunately for them, Professor Bins gave them an extremely long essay for the following week and, plus the other homework he had to do, he decided to go down the library. It wasn't something Sirius normally did… he usually did his homework the day before the due date, why was he starting now? There was something inside him that was making him go to the library… and somehow he felt he had to do this alone.

At five o'clock he left the common room with no explanation and walked down to the library. He realized as soon as he opened the door that there was something strange there, although he couldn't see what. There was many students there and Madam Pince was cleaning some books with her forehead frowned. He decided to ignore them all and start his research.

One hour later Sirius was totally tired of reading useless books about old witches and wizards, so he got up and started pacing through the bookshelves. He was looking for something to read, perhaps 'Quidditch Through The Ages' or a similar book, when something caught his attention. It was a small, slip paper, lying on the floor. It looked like a female's handwriting. You could perfectly read '_I love you, Alana_'

Grinning Sirius bent down and tried to pick up the slip of paper, but when he touched it with his finger, it disappeared into thin air. Frightened, he let himself fall to his feet. He looked back down on the floor where the paper had just been, breathing heavily. What the hell just happened? Another thought came into Sirius' mind. Why him? Of all the strange things that could happen to him he had to be hunted by the dead-bloody-girl and papers that disappeared in the thin air. For one second he had thought it was another of the love-notes he received at least once a month, but none of them had disappeared like this one!

He heard steps on the floor and turned around, to see the face of an angry Madam Pince in front of him. "What do you think you are doing, Black?"

Before he could answer, he was out of the library.

This is enough; Sirius thought to himself as he ran through the corridors, I'm going to tell them. There's no way he had lost his mind, right? None of the things that had happened to him were product of his imagination, were they? He was completely sure he had seen the little girl and the note on the floor… and even though it sounded crazy, he felt it had some sort of connection between both things. It surely was strange.

Once he entered in the common room all sweaty and out of breath it took him a while to see where his friends were. Once he found them (on the couch in front of the fireplace) he ran to them and sat on the floor.

"Okay, we have to talk," he was sweaty, out of breath, and with a strange look on his face… almost is if he were afraid of something.

"Sirius? Are you ok?" James asked worriedly looking up from his new broom.

"Yes, perfectly fine… or at least I think so"

"You doubting of any of your skills, Sirius? This has to be big" and with that Remus sat straight on the couch and put the book he was reading behind. James did the same thing, looking funnily at his best friend.

Sirius took a deep breath. He had to tell them… but what would they think? Surely, Sirius had joked of seeing ghosts before... but now this was real! He had seen the little girl, twice, the paper… it couldn't just be a product of his imagination, could it? Not even in the wizarding world this things were normal. Not even in the wizarding world.

Sirius opened his mouth but no noise came from it. He wanted to tell his best friends but couldn't. Why? He didn't know. The only thing he knew is that his friends weren't going to treat him as if he were crazy, were they? But then again… this was no ordinary thing that was happening to him. Although... what if it all was a prank? His best friends were capable, perfectly capable, of doing such things and if they knew they were having the effect on Sirius just like they were having, no, he wouldn't give them such a pleasure.

Why was he doubting of his friends? Neither James, nor Remus or Peter would do something like that. Sirius knew that. Then what was it? He decided to do more research before telling them. Perhaps it was better so.

"Sirius?"

"What..uh? Sorry James… I.. I forgot something in the library" and before any of his friends told him anything he got up and ran away from the common room.

What had happened to him? Sirius sighed as he sat on the grass near the lake and put his head in his hands. His long hair fell forward. The moon was already visible, it's light reflecting on the lake.

This was the first time that he couldn't tell something to his friends. This had never occurred before. Why had he doubted? Of course he could trust his friends, then why…?

He felt someone sit next to him, but when he looked up he saw no-one there.

"Wha…?"

An invisible arm grabbed a small stone and threw it in the lake, making small circles where it fell. Shocked, Sirius stretched his arm to where the invisible-being was supposed to be sitting. Horrified, he realized that whatever it was, it was as cold as ice. Sirius got up and walked backwards, looking at the place where he had just been sitting. Afraid. That's how Sirius felt. Scared, alone, helpless. His breathing getting heavy with time, sweat started to fall from his forehead… Sirius had to get the hell out of there. When he was about to turn around he could feel that someone grabbed him from his arm and didn't let him run away.

This was the first time that Sirius actually screamed with fear, "LET ME GO!" He shook his arm and breaking free, he ran away, scared and frightened, to his room.

He sat on his bed shaking.

That night, Sirius could not go to sleep. He hadn't gone to dinner either, something really, really strange for him. His friends were starting to worry, but when they asked him what his problem was, he gave them a fearful look and then turned around, not wanting to talk to anyone.

Sirius sighed and sat on his bed. He felt so lost and helpless. And the worst thing of all is that he had no idea what this meant or what he was supposed to do.

He touched his right arm, in the place where he had felt someone grab him. It still hurt, as if he were burnt. What the hell did it mean? Ghosts were not supposed to burn, or that's what he thought.

He turned on the light next to him and realized, with horror, the mark he had on his arm. This wasn't there before! The burn he had where the invisible being had touched him had a shape! The teenage wizard contemplated for some seconds, fear starting to appear once again. He was trembling, when he realized what it was. It was the hand of a small girl, not older than the one he had seen before.

Nervously, he got up and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. He didn't know, but he had awoken his friends.

Turning the tap, he put his arm under the stream of cold water. The cool liquid running on his arm made him close his eyes and enjoy the short moment. His arm didn't hurt anymore and, when he opened them once again, he realized that the small hand was gone. Sirius smiled relieved, his breathing coming back to normal.

But the happiness and relieved moment didn't last long. He tried to turn the tap off but couldn't. He watched horrified as the faucet from the hot water started to open itself slowly, while the one from the cold water closed itself. The water was hot now, very hot. It started to burn his arm and Sirius could do nothing against it. He screamed, trying to get his arm off of the water but couldn't. Something was holding him back. Sirius screamed once again, trying to fight the invisible strength that was holding him back but there was nothing he could do against it. The steam was starting to fill the room… everything was so hot…

Scared, Sirius heard like someone from the other side of the room was yelling at his name. "SIRIUS! OPEN UP!"

Horrified, Sirius kept on trying to take his arm from under the water running. It was absolutely boiling, and starting to hurt his arm. The steam was taking over the whole room, making Sirius cough from time to time.

"SIRIUS!"

"I CAN'T!" was all he screamed, and continued coughing. Desperately, he tried to open the cold water faucet but failed. "I'M TRAPPED!"

"HOLD ON!"

Seconds later, Sirius heard a loud scream and then the door got easily open. Both James and Remus entered in the room, looking around worriedly. Peter was still on his bed, afraid of everything, not wanting to get in the bathroom.

"Sirius!" James screamed and then ran to help Sirius. Tears were streaming down his face; he was suffering from immense pain. James realized that Sirius had blisters all over his right arm. "Take it out!" he screamed as he moved his head trying to clear the view from the steam.

"Oh very funny, James!" Sirius screamed angrily. "As if I haven't thought about it!"

"Sirius, hold on" Remus said and then tried to close the faucet from the water running. "Damn! It's really hard… James!"

James went to his friend and tried to close the faucet from the boiling water, but the only thing they managed to do was break it.

"Shit!"

Just when they put their hands in Sirius' arm to try to break it free, the water stopped slowly from running and Sirius' arm broke suddenly free. The three of them fell backwards on the floor.

"Are you ok, Sirius?" Remus asked concerned. But Sirius didn't answer. He had tears streaming down his face, and a horrified look on it. When Remus followed the gaze to where Sirius, and now James, looking, Remus gasped.

In the mirror of the bathroom, in a childish writing, you could perfectly read '_Please, listen to me_'

"_Who on his right mind dares to play with boiling water at 2 am_?"

Sirius didn't answer, neither did James nor Remus. They only heared Madam Pomfrey complaining of Sirius arm and giving him an angry look as she cured the blisters on it. She didn't seam to realized anything strange on them, but Sirius and his friends did. Perhaps because of the fear, or just because it was too late to argue with the nurse, they all were quiet as she cured Sirius' arm and put some bandages around it. Once she was finished, she gave him a bottle of lotion and told him to rub some on as soon as it started to hurt.

"You can go, Mr Black," she told him angrily. "I want you to come here tomorrow after classes so I can have a look at your burn" Sirius said nothing as he got up from the chair he was sitting in. "Now, GO"

The three teenagers nodded and walked slowly and quietly to their room.

When they opened the door, Sirius entered first. He walked to his bed, looking down, and entered in it. "Sirius?" James asked. Sirius looked up and realized that both James and Remus were looking at him concerned. "What happened?"

He only shook his head. "I need to sleep a bit… perhaps tomorrow"

Neither of them told him anything, and went straight back to bed.

The next day when classes were over, Sirius went straight to Madam Pomfrey. She put a new set of bandages on his arm and a healing cream on the blisters. It still burnt. Pomfrey told him nothing and when she was finished she gave him a concerned look. Sirius thanked her and then walked away.

James and Remus were concerned. Both had seen what has happened yesterday at the bathroom and they couldn't help but wonder what had happened. It wasn't normal that you just couldn't close the faucet of the bathroom, and even worse, the fact that someone had written on the mirror '_Please, listen to me_'.

Both teenagers were worried for their friend. Sirius had barely said anything in the whole day, had barely paid attention to the teachers during classes and even worse, he had completely ignored when Snape had insulted him. Sirius was not Sirius. They had tried to talk to him but they couldn't get complete answers. The only thing that their friend managed to say was 'Yes' 'No' and sometimes a 'thank you'. But apart from that, Sirius had turned into a complete and distant being. When they finished their classes, Sirius went to the infirmary to get his arm healed. Alone. James and Remus decided to go and wait for him on the door. They needed to talk to Sirius… now.

They found him when he went to the corridor on his right. He didn't look good at all. It was a sad image: the usual and cheerful Sirius was now turned into a quiet one, with his dark hair messier than usual, dark bags under his eyes, the smile he always used to carry no longer in his face… it was a devastating image. He was walking slowly, holding his injured arm with the other one. Only looking at the bandages, not even caring where his legs were taking him. He was even paler than usual, and that was saying too much.

James gave Remus a concerned look and they both walked forwards, stopping in front of Sirius. He sighed and tried to continue walking. His friends stopped him. "Sirius?"

Sirius raised his head up. Both of his friends held their breath when they saw the look Sirius had. His dark eyes seamed to look nowhere special, as if they were completely lost in themselves and couldn't concentrate on anything in special.

"Hi, pal, we need to talk"

Sirius said nothing.

"Let's go for a walk"

And they set off, Sirius in the middle walking slowly as the others had to adapt their walk to their friends'. How should they start? It was no easy thing. You just couldn't go and tell a friend 'they, dude! What's all of the ghost writing on the mirror the other day?" You just couldn't. And it was even worse when your friend seamed lost in his own thoughts, not wanting to communicate with anyone or anything.

"Sirius" James repeated the name once again. He realized that the only reason he was calling his friend so many times was because he was waiting for him to react, jump up, and start laughing as he always did.

"What happened last night?"

Sirius shook his head. It looked like he didn't want to talk.

"Has this happened to you before?" Remus asked now.

Another shake of head.

"Then what was it?"

No response, at all.

"Sirius.. have strange things have been occurring around you?" Remus asked, suddenly. James looked at him questioningly Remus just put a face that clearly said what he was talking about. James nodded and then turned to his friend, who was nodding.

"What sort of things?" James asked surprised at his friends' response. Now he understood why had Remus asked that question. He remembered the day of the train, and the way Sirius had screamed. And then the other night, when he had woken them up because of his screams. His only answer was that there was an owl, but they both knew he had been lying at the time. And then… the day that Sirius had gone straight to the library? He had come back out of breath and looking scared. Had this anything to do with what had happened last night? Both teenagers hoped they would find out soon enough.

"I…I don't… I don't know"

"What do you mean you don't know, Sirius?"

They kept on walking through the empty corridors, not even caring where their legs were taking them. Sirius opened his mouth to answer, when he suddenly stopped.

"Wha…?"

"Why..?"

"Shhh!"

As if by art of magic, Sirius had suddenly 'woken up' from his world and was now looking with wide-open eyes at all around. He started to turn around in his place, trying to catch up something, but neither of his friends knew what.

"Sirius…?"

"Can't you hear it?" he asked stopping to face his friends. They gave him a what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about look making the boy roll his eyes. "Can't you hear it?" he asked again. Both, James and Remus, shook their heads starting to worry about the mental-health of their friend.

"Be quiet… you'll hear it! I swear!"

One moment Sirius was almost a walking zombie, and now he was out of breath, nervously looking around for something he had only heard… he had only heard?

The three of them were quiet for some seconds, and it was enough for them to get chills and hold their breaths. They heard a sob… a sob from a little girl, and it was coming from the next corridor! James and Remus looked at each other and then at Sirius… only that Sirius wasn't there anymore. He was running through the corridor, looking all around, desperately.

"Damn!" they both said and then ran to catch up with their friend.

"Sirius! I'm sure it's nothing…!"

"It must be Peeves! You know how he likes to fool with us…!"

"It's not Peeves!" Sirius screamed without stopping. "That's not Peeves voice!"

When the corridor finished, there was a junction. Sirius didn't even think twice, he chose the right path. Remus and James were running as fast as they could to catch their friend, but they couldn't. Sirius was surprisingly fast now, something very strange considering that James was the fastest of the four of them and that Remus had some traits of his lycanthropy while being a human.

They heard a familiar voice coming from the right corridor. "Sirius!"

"Sorry, Pete! No time for you!" they heard Sirius scream.

When they came to another junction, James and Remus stopped. "Did he go straight?" James asked fast and out of breath while he and Remus continued running as fast as their legs let them.

"What the hell is happening here?" Peter screamed.

"You just follow us!"

Peter sighed and then ran behind his friends as fast as he could.

"Sirius stop!" James screamed. A distant response came from very ahead: "Can't…!"

James groaned angrily.

After a long run, they finally saw Sirius, he had stopped running and was looking all around. "Sirius don't move!"

"I can't!" was all he answered, but James was sure he didn't know he had just said that. It didn't look like Sirius was with them… he had his mind in somewhere else.

When James, Remus arrived to where Sirius was they realized what he had stopped: they were in the moving staircases. The one they were in started to move slowly, making the three friends grab themselves to the railing of the stairs. When the staircase was about half meter away from the corridor, Peter arrived almost out of breath.

"PETER, JUMP!"

"WHAT!" he asked, suddenly afraid.

"JUMP!" both James and Remus screamed.

Peter gave them an I-hate-when-you-do-this-to-me look. He sighed and then went a few steps back. He then took a deep breath, ran and jumped. He fell on the cold floor of the staircase, on his right arm.

"Are you ok?" both of his friends asked concerned, as they bent down to help Peter up.

He nodded. "This is going to hurt tomorrow" he said rubbing his arm. He then turned his head to Sirius. "What's wrong with him?"

"We don't know"

Peter nodded but said nothing, he just continued rubbing his arm.

Five minutes must have passed, when the staircase finally stopped. It led them to a door. It was open. Sirius was the first one to enter in the room, followed by his three friends.

They looked around; the candles in the wall poorly illuminated the room. Something really strange. It was full of trophies and pictures from former classes from Hogwarts. They were in the Trophy Room.

"Why are we here?" Peter asked at his friends. They only told him to be quiet as they looked at Sirius. He was looking at the pictures, not even caring that his friends were there and were giving him worried glances.

"Sirius…?"

"Shhh"

They looked at Sirius for some seconds, until they finally understood (or at least they thought so) what he was doing. He was looking at the pictures… but why? As they had nothing better to do, and they were in a room fool of trophies and photos that were screaming to be seen, they all decided to give them a look.

The photos were from the classes on their 7th year, on their graduation day. There were photos from at least 150 years back.

"Hey!" James said laughing happily. "Here's my mother!"

Remus and Peter ran to where James was pointing at. He was right, there was his mother, with her long brown hair as always, and a big smile on her face. One moment she was talking with the boy next to her and then the other she looked at the camera. She had the same look that James had. "See? Class of 1954" They all started to read the names until they found the name of James' mother. "See? Joanne Owens" James gave a few steps to his right. "So, if my mother is here then my father should be…here! Here he is! Look at his face!" James laughed hardly this time, as he pointed at his father. "Generation of 1952" You could perfectly see his father with his black hair, messier as always, and a serious look on his face. He wasn't even moving. "Oooh, I'm going to tease him about this! He hates people making pictures of him!"

"So… if your mother is here, Prongs, then my mother should be… here" Remus said contemplating at the picture near the picture from Miss Potter. "Yes, here she is" he said pointing at a young woman. She was from the class of '1955' And way under you could read the name 'Jacqueline Miller' Her red straight hair was moving, as she laughed with a friend and then the second later she looked at the camera.

"Nice picture" James said making Remus smile. "Your father is not here, right?"

His friend shook his head. "No, he must be in Beauxbatons"

"Right"

"So, Pete! Where are your parents?" James asked happily to his friend. Peter was looking straight at two pictures, but not from his parents. "Hi, guys! Come and see this!" he said to Remus and James. "There's a generation missing!"

Surprised, James and Remus went to where Peter was standing, but Sirius was faster. "What?" he asked looking at the pictures.

"Yes! Look! Class of 1932, Class of 1934!" he said pointing at both of the pictures. "As far as I know, there should be a picture here in the middle that reads 'Class of 1933', right?"

"Perhaps it's missing" Remus said not taking his eyes off of the picture.

"I don't think so" James said pointing at the pictures, frowning. "If it were missing then there would be a space here, between both pictures but no, there isn't any. These pictures were put like this on purpose."

"_The train…_" Sirius breathed. His friends looked at him quizzically. "What?"

Sirius said nothing; he just took off both of the pictures with the wand. "Sirius!" they told him but he didn't care. "Let's go to our room" he said and then walked away, putting the pictures under his robes.

Moony VS Padfoot: hi! I'm really glad you liked the chapter… sorry it took me ages to update, but school is killing me! Was this chapter as good as the last one? I hope it was! LOVE!

Wytil: hi there! The time frame is just when the Marauders are at school (I think it's their last or 6th year at Hogwarts…) it's a pre-harry era fic. I hope you liked this chapter and understood it better now!

and now.. DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!

Love  
ML


	3. Crash of Hopes

**CHAPTER 3**

**Author: **Moony Lover

**Summary:** What if the Hogwarts Train had never arrived to it's destiny?

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, never will be. I only own the characters you don't recognize in the story.

**Author's Notes:** English is not my first language… I hope you understand that I may make some mistakes which my computer does not recognize as such… be nice to me! Lol.

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When they entered in their room, Sirius went straight to his bed and sat there. He put both of the pictures in front of him, but both with a space missing. A space for the other picture.

"Okay, Sirius" James said closing the door behind him. "Explain"

Sirius sighed. "Ok… uh… remember the day of the train? Well…"

He told his friends everything that had happened to him, What he had seen on the train, and the night he had seen the same little girl in the window from his room… how he had had the need to go to the library, the way that the paper that read 'I love you, Alana' had disappeared in the thin air…

"… and then the other night, the thing of the mirror. I had been on the lake, thinking of everything… when suddenly I felt how someone sat next to me, when I looked up I saw nothing and then somehow… a small hand touched my right arm. It burnt" he hesitated for some seconds and then continued. "And then.. last night, with the water. I just couldn't take my arm from under the water… because there was someone holding me"

"What?"

"What do-what do you mean someone holding-holding you?" Peter asked trembling.

Sirius looked at the floor, not wanting to meet his friends' eyes. He uncovered his right arm. He asked to one of his friends to help him take the bandages from the burnt. Remus helped him carefully. When the hurt was uncovered, Remus had to hold his breath to not scream. Sirius bit his lower lip, as he looked with tears in his eyes the hurt. There was a small hand marked there, but the hand was not only red, no. The shape of the hand and the hand itself were all covered with blisters.

It took a few moments for them to recover from the shock. Poor Peter, he almost passed out from the shock of seeing Sirius' arm. There was an uncomfortable silence, until Remus was the first one to speak. His quiet and manly voice filled the room.

"So, basically, you think that the little girl was the one that made you… this?" he asked pointing at the burnt in Sirius's arm. He nodded. "Don't ask me why, I just know it" he said.

"Fine" James said coming closer to Sirius. He sat on the floor near Remus and Peter. "And what do the pictures have to do with the little girl and the broke Hogwarts Express?"

"Don't you see it, Prongs?" Padfoot asked his friend. "What if the train thing were true? It must have happened seven years before 1933, on…"

"1926"

"1926, thanks Moony. Anyway, do you have other reason for the picture to be missing? When I saw the Hogwarts Train it had already derailed and… somehow, please don't ask me why, I knew that all of the little kids that had died were from the first year" he explained, his voice trying to break down. "If this is true, if the Hogwarts Express has once derailed, killing an entire generation of first years, then they wouldn't have a picture to put 7 years later. Why? Because in 1933 there wasn't a generation that left Hogwarts. They had been killed 7 years ago"

"But…" Remus commented, more like if he were thinking out loud. "… if this is true, everything you told us.. then what does the little girl want? I mean…"

Three of the marauders turn to Sirius, who shrugged. "Don't think I've got the answer… because I don't"

That night, before going to sleep, Sirius put both of the pictures inside a drawer from his night table and then went straight to his bed. He felt more... relaxed now, now that his friends knew what had been bothering him ever since he arrived at the school. If his friends knew, it wasn't that bad right? Now he didn't feel the need to walk alone in the room. Nor did he feel alone. He had his friends who believed his story without hesitation.

Lost in his thoughts, he fell asleep.

_Sirius didn't know where he was. He could recognize the landscape.. he had been there before, but right now he couldn't think when. Looking around, scared, he kept on doing small steps, afraid of the place he was… it was almost night, but the last rays of the sun still could be seen. On one moment he stepped on something soft, and the next moment when he realized in what thing he had stepped onto, Sirius had to hold his breath. He bent down and picked up the small, pink little shoe that was on the floor. Whose was it?_

_He kept on walking with the little shoe in his right hand, looking around. There were more things on the floor. Horrified he noticed that most of the things were school supplies, like books, bags, writing feathers… everything. _

_He bit his lower lip, something must have happened here. But, what?_

_And then.. he saw it. The same thing he had already seen. Sirius suddenly recognized where he was: he was walking near the accident of the Hogwarts Express. He held his breath once again when he started recognizing the things that were on the floor like shoes, clothes…everything was tainted with the blood of the little kids. He felt so miserable and scared at the same time…_

_Now he could see people walking around him, although none of them saw he was there. It was as if he didn't exist in that tragic world._

_Kids running and crying all over the place, mediwizards trying to heal the ones injured, everything was a total chaos. Even the grown ups weren't doing the best job they could. Some of them were crying, as the others were doing their job with lots of difficulties. And then, he saw it. A mediwizard taking out the body of a little boy, he had red hair and… Sirius stopped walking in shock. The face of the little boy was absolutely destroyed. Full of blood you could barely recognize his eyes, his mouth or his nose, it was all… as if he had crushed with something sharp. His hands were doubled in a really strange angle. One of his feet was horribly.. amorphous. Sirius shuddered. Poor Kid, he thought to himself as he tried not to be sick. Another shiver took over his body._

_They took another lifeless body… and then another one, and another… on and on, the dead bodies being taken out only from the two last wagons…_

_He didn't realize, but he had stopped walking long ago, frozen by the terrifying scene in front of his eyes. And then, he felt a deja vú. He saw how a man took out the body of a little girl, she had curly brown-reddish hair, a pink dress with pink shoes and white gloves. Or at least they had been white, for now they were all covered with blood, like her clothes, her hair… When they put her body down on the floor an older woman ran crying to it. She bent over and grabbed the little girl's dead body. A man was behind her, his head looking down, not able to see the picture in front of him. Sirius knew who this girl was, but he had to see her better, he made a step forward and came closer to the woman but the second he stepped forward, the head of the little girl fell aside, revealing an open eye. _

_It was looking directly at him. _

_Scared, Sirius fell backwards into the grass. His hand touched something. It was a small, slip of paper. Intrigued, he grabbed the paper and realized it had something written on it. He recognized the writing immediately. It was the same note he had seen in the library. Once again, he read it. 'I love you, Alana'_

_Realizing what had happened and whose note was it, Sirius raised his head up once again to look at the sobbing woman with the little girl. However, now the little girl's eye was closed…_

Sirius woke up with a start, and tried not to scream. He was breathing heavily, agitated, as if he had just ran 10 miles and was now having a rest. Turning his head to the sides he realized it was still night. He was about to turn around and try to keep on sleeping when he felt something on his hand. He raised his hand and realized it was closed, holding something.

A paper.

Sirius didn't need to open it to realize what paper was it. It was Alana's note.

James was having a quiet night, sleeping with a Quidditch match. All of the sudden the match stopped and he jumped off of the broom. He walked to the Great Hall and found that it was now turned into a big scenario. In the scenario there was a small dragon, setting in fire everything with the fire brewing out of his nose. Out of the blue, the little dragon looked at James. And then the earth started moving.

"James! James wake up!"

"No… no….I… haven't… no! NO!" Sweating, James sat straight on his bed. He was breathing heavily from his dream. Looking around, he couldn't distinguish anything, so he started to look on his night table, his hand shaking, until he found his glasses. As he put them on he could feel someone calling his name ('Jamsie! Jamsie!') but he was far to asleep to even try to recognize whose voice was it. Minutes later, when he was able to focus he realized that there was someone sitting on the edge of his bed, and that someone was no other than…

"Black, give me one good and credible explanation that justifies you waking me up like that" he said roughly. Sirius didn't even bother to tremble by the tone on James' voice.

"James, look" and then Sirius gave him the note. James grabbed it and then he approached it close to his eyes. It took him a while to realize what he had in his hands. Once he did, he stared at Sirius for some moments.

"Is this from…?"

"The little girl? Yes"

"How…?" James asked looking from the paper back to his friend and vice versa

"I dreamt it" Sirius explained his dream to James, and how he was surprised to see that after he had grabbed the paper the eye of the little girl had shut itself in a matter of seconds.. perhaps even less. James shuddered. He gave his friend a sad look and then told him. "Look, Sirius, its 3 am in the morning… perhaps it's better if we talk about this in the morning, with Remus and Peter, is that ok with you?"

Sirius thought about it for some seconds and then nodded. "Yes, it's better. Go back to sleep, Jamsie"

He then went straight to his bed, in less than five minutes James snoring could be heard again. Padfoot grinned, knowing that his friend loved to sleep.

His hand touched once again the note he had put on the night table. He grabbed it and then approached it closer. 'I love you, Alana' What did the girl mean by this? She didn't love HIM right? She sure must have been mistaken, but… then again, to whom was the note?

"_C'mon Alana_…" he whispered, not taking his eyes off of the note. "_To whom is it_?"

A sudden shiver took over his body. _C'mon…_ he was trying to encourage himself to think further of the note, but deep inside he knew he was trying to encourage little Alana to come over to him and tell him to whom was the note and what he could do to 'listen to her' What did she want?

"_ALL ABOARD!" _

_Surprised, Sirius started looking around trying to find a way out. Where was he? He was on the train Station, right? Next to him the great Hogwarts Express was starting to take smoke of his chimneys. He looked around, trying to find someone that could help him, but when he stopped to ask people something they just wouldn't stop. Once again, he was being ignored by all sort of people around him._

"_Mummy, I don't want to go…"_

_Sirius heard a little girl sobbing to her mother, as her mother tried to get her on the Hogwarts Express._

"_You have to, sweety. Don't worry, ok? Mummy will write you"_

_He recognized the little girl immediately. It was Alana, and she was with her mother, a young witch, the same one he saw that ran to the dead body of his little daughter and cried on it. He felt something strange take over his body. He felt sadness… and sorry, for he knew what was going to happen._

"_But…"_

"_You have to go, darling" And with that she grabbed the kids hand and took her running to the last wagon of the train where kids of same age were supposed to be. Some of them were crying, some laughing, some green and some too shocked to say anything. "Mummy, no!" But Alana couldn't do anything to avoid her mother from getting off the train. Alana tried to jump but she couldn't: the door got suddenly closed with an abrupt noise. She ran to the last wagon and opened a window to call for her mother. The young witch ran and touched her hand through the window's train. "Everything's going to be ok, sweety," she smiled and then the train started to speed. "Have fun!" Alana let go her mother's hand and ran to get something from her bag. "I love you" the mother said and then the train went so fast that was quickly out of her view._

_Moments later Sirius realized that he had been staring at Alana and her mother, non stop. Apparently, she didn't like the idea of going to Hogwarts and live separately from her mother for so long, and it looked like her mother didn't like it much either, but there was nothing she could do to avoid it. Sirius sighed, when he realized that the woman had tears of mirth in her eyes. She smiled at the place where the Hogwarts Express had just been and then walked slowly away._

_And then, it hit him. _

_The Sirius Black that was living in the dream had Alana's note on his hand. And he knew exactly what he had to do. He stepped forward to catch the mother when…_

Riiiiiing

Riiiiiiing!

Groaning, Sirius turned to the other side of his bed and grabbed the magical Clock on his night table. He threw it away to the other side of the room. For the noise it had made in the crush, it looked like it had just broken down in hundred pieces.

He got up and then walked straight to the bathroom, not even caring that his friends were giving him a curious look from their beds. Why had Sirius decided to set off the alarm on a Saturday?

He went out of the bathroom twenty minutes later, wearing his school robes and ready to go down to the classes. "What?" he asked angrily when he realized that neither of his friends had their robes on.

"Uh… Sirius?" James told him raising his eyebrow. "How come you wanna go to the classes on a Satur…" he couldn't finish the sentence, because a yawn took over him.

"Saturday?" Padfoot asked looking at Remus. "It's Saturday?"

Remus nodded from his bed. "Yes" he answered, still a little asleep.

"Oh! Damn it!" the boy stated angrily and then started taking off his robes. He didn't stop until he was in boxers. "Who the hell set the alarm for…9 am! Who the hell was it?"

"I didn't do it"

"Me neither"

"Nor was I"

"So you are trying to tell me that none of you wanted to pull a prank on your so beloved friend?"

"On a Saturday morning? No thanks" James shook his head, ironically.

Sirius sighed. "Oh, never mind. It's good to have you awoken. I need to talk to you"

From under his sheets, he told his three friends all that had happened tonight. How he had dreamt of the little girl, the paper and how all of the sudden he had it in his hands.

"Yes, I knew that" James told him. Sirius nodded. "There's still more"

"More?" James asked, surprised. His friend nodded. "After you fell asleep I tried to sleep as well… but I couldn't, I've been doing some thinking of the note and the little girl and everything… and that's when I fell asleep… and then I understood"

"Understood what, Padfoot?"

He told them about the second dream, where he saw how his mother put the little kid on the train without her wanting to go, and how she told her that she loved her and that they would see each other very soon. How the train set off and how the mother walked away, with tears of joy and sadness in her eyes.

"So… on my dream I stepped forward… I know it was because I wanted to give the woman the note but couldn't… so, when I gave the first step forward, that darned thing started ringing and that's when I woke up"

"What do you think of this?" Remus asked after a long silence.

"I think… I think that after the train set off Alana wrote this note to her mother, but couldn't ever give it to her. I think that's why I went forward in my dream. I was about to give it to her"

"Then why didn't you?" it was Peter the one taking now, his voice a little weaker than usual. The covers were covering him up to his neck, and you could see he was trembling a little.

"Because the alarm set off, Pete" Remus said, but Sirius shook his head. "No"

"Then why?"

"Because I wasn't supposed to give Alana's mother just then"

They were silent for some seconds, until James finally spoke:

"So you are telling me, that a third person set off the alarm?"

Sirius nodded. "It was Alana. I'm sure of that"

Sirius thought for a moment of what he had just said. He knew, because he already knew, that it was Alana the person that had set off the alarm and he knew exactly why. But, if she wanted him to give the note to her mother (he couldn't find another reason for Alana to chase him like that) then why had she stopped him there? Wasn't it easier if he gave the note to her mother, woke up, and then it was all gone? Dead ghosts happy, probably dead woman happy, and teenage boy happy. They could move on! But Sirius knew that if she had done that, then there must have been a reason. And he would not stop until he figured it out.

The rest of the day went fine, they pulled some pranks, ate a lot, the usual stuff, although Sirius didn't look completely focused today. His mind was back in his room, where the note that Alana had written to her mother was guarded… inside one of his books. ('_Quidditch and Wizards: Why do they match together so well?_) He couldn't stop thinking of his dreams, and the fact that he had even been on one of them. He had the note, he knew that Alana had written it… then what was missing?

Once in the common room, Sirius apologized and walked back to his room. He opened his book and took out the note. Staring at it, he didn't think of another way to connect with Alana. _Please…_he made a plea in his mind, hoping that Alana would somehow hear it. _I have the note… I think I know what you want me to do with it… but is it really what you want? _He sighed, feeling stupid as he thought those phrases knowing that nobody would answer him. Or maybe…

It took him a while to understand that he wasn't alone in the room. Neither was he in his mind. It was a strange feeling, as if all of the sudden you could share your mind with another person… and that person could read your thoughts, and somehow answer them back! How did he know there was someone IN THERE if there was no way to prove it?

Smiling, Sirius thought of a perfect way to ask Alana what he wanted, but he forgot that she could read all of his thoughts. He didn't even thought that magic could go that far.

And then… she appeared. A sad image as always, she was covered in blood, looking sadly at Sirius, but this time he didn't try to run away. He looked at the little girl and opened his mouth to ask her something. "_Is it really what you want?" _he mumbled slowly and carefully, not taking his eyes off of the little girl. She nodded without saying a word. "_How?" _Sirius asked once again. She gave him a meaningful look, then shook her head, and before Sirius could say anything else, Alana vanished into the thin air.

Woken up by a sudden lighting, Sirius Black realized he had been dreaming.

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And sorry for the delay!

ML


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